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#greensand

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David Hembrow

This afternoon's bike trip was a 37 km round trip in one hour and ten minutes to collect a 20 kg sack of "greensand" olivine for the garden.

I think it's a good example of the efficiency of velomobiles: how they make human power even more effective than when riding a normal bike. Even on the return journey with a headwind and loaded with the sack of sand, it was easy to keep the speed above 35 km/h.

Being able to stow a lot of things inside the aerodynamic form of the bike helps a lot with efficiency. You feel extra weight when accelerating, not so much once you get going.

And why the olivine ? I calculated a few weeks back that in the worst case this last winter our heating could have emitted 105 kg of CO2. This sack is enough to absorb about a fifth of that amount from the atmosphere.

Each time we plant things indoors or in our garden we add a bit of olivine.

Once humanity (especially those of us in the highly emitting richer countries) has reduced emissions by a lot, it's possible to make a bit of a dent by using a product like this. But there's no chance of compensating for ever larger emissions by trying to mine ever larger amounts of olivine.

Mango velomobile next to our front garden with a sack of olivine resting against it. Visible behind the velomobile are a water butt, an apple tree, a plum tree, some rhubarb, and quite a lot of dandilions on the bit we let get wild each spring because it's good for the insects. Hopefully this doesn't annoy our neighbours too much.
#recumbent#velomobile#regel17
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David Hembrow

And then, after one final reminder that the city will officially be worshipping fossil fuel next week, I got back home, with a loaf of bread for my lunch picked up in the city centre and a 20 kg sack of olivine ("greensand") which will eventually absorb about 20 kg of CO2 when I use it in the garden. I don't use any fossil fuels, but others unfortunately still do. It seems better to buy this stuff to dilute our home-made compost than other things which are more environmentally destructive.
#velomobile #regel17 #cycling #biketooter #weathering #enhancedweathering #olivine #greensand

TT sign welcoming people into Assen. From the 17th to the 25th of June we can expect more motorbikes than usual, and more people than usual. But that nice cyclepath, and all the other nice cyclepaths, will still be here.
Velomobile at home with a 20 kg sack of olivine picked up in the middle of the road and a loaf of bread from the city centre. This was a rather utilitarian trip, including making a delivery, walking into a farmyard to get the olivine, avoiding silly obstacles in Assen, and dealing with a couple of traffic lights and car drivers. No records were broken, but I covered just over 35 km in just over 1:10, which isn't really that awful for a utility trip. Velomobiles make the best use of human power. In front of the velomobile you can see some of our potatoes growing. On the far right of the photo is our Christmas tree from last year, which will have made itself a bit bigger by Christmas this year.
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David Hembrow

This morning's exercise ride was a 34 km round trip to collect another 20 kg sack of greensand. We've been using it with our house-plants, mixed with compost from the garden to start tomatoes, and here in the front garden it's levelled up the ground above our potatoes.

Over time, each sack permanently removes 20 kg of CO2 from the atmosphere and the process is beneficial to growing plants.

Three sacks make a very small difference to our historical emissions, but if I'm going to buy soil of some kind for the garden it may as well be this. I certainly won't buy #peat which would help to destroy an ecosystem somewhere and release CO2 into the atmosphere.
#olivine #greensand #weathering #enhancedweathering #regel17

Velomobile, sack of greensand, and some soil topped with some of the last sack, under which we're growing potatoes.
Inside the velomobile. A 20 kg sack fits nicely behind the seat, so it's completely enclosed inside the aerodynamic form of the velomobile and doesn't slow you down except having an effect on acceleration.
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David Hembrow

Photos of this morning's recreational ride. It took an hour and ten minutes to ride 37 km, my average speed being pulled down by riding slowly into a farmyard at around the half way point to buy another 20 kg sack of olivine.
We've been using this sand-like ground up olivine in pot plants indoors and also in the garden to fill gaps.
Plants seem to grow well in it.
Olivine is one of several minerals which absorb CO2 from the air as they weather so my feeling is that if I'm going to spend money on something to put in the garden or use for planting indoors, why not use olivine which has a small positive effect on the climate?
#regel17 #velomobile #cycling #netherlands #bicycle #greensand #olivine #weathering #enhancedweathering #BikeTooter

A velomobile in the Hijkerveld in Drenthe. This is a nice natural area of heath which has a cycle-path through it. I quite like to stop here.
Another view of my velomobile in the same heath, but from the opposite direction. The sky is blue and it could almost be summer, but actually the weather was quite chilly.
Inside view of the velomobile including a 20 kg sack of Greensand olivine. It's possible to carry quite a lot inside a velomobile beside or behind the seat and still travel at a respectable pace using nothing but human power.
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David Hembrow

Anyway, I think #weathering of minerals is one of the few types of CO2 sequestration which might actually achieve something because the chemical reaction which locks up the CO2 is not easily reversible, and it appears that olivine can be mined and also transported with a much lower CO2 output than the product will absorb.

In the Netherlands, a company called #Greensand is selling olivine, including as a compensation product where they'll mine it and dispose of it for you without you having to have it delivered to your home:

greensand.com/

In my case I bought this small amount from a local company called #Onlyvine which stocks the product:

onlyvine.nl/

If you're going to use sand or grit for some purpose, it may as well be olivine which might also have a positive effect on our climate.

This is not a paid for endorsement, btw, I just think it's interesting and probably positive. Also of course this cannot substitute for reducing consumption of fossil fuels as that's the most powerful way to reduce emissions.

greenSandDe Grote CO₂ Opruiming | greenSandRuim CO₂ op met greenSand Olivijn in je tuin, bedrijf of gemeente. Of compenseer je eigen CO₂ uitstoot. Draag jij je steentje bij? Ontdek hier wat jij kan doen.
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